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Taxing foreign investment in real estate: Let’s be open and honest

Published on 2016-07-27 in the Ottawa Citizen

There is no question that home affordability in cities like Vancouver and Toronto has become unattainable for most of us. There is a significant supply problem which has not been adequately discussed and resolved.

With the news that foreign investors will now be taxed an additional 15% of the purchase price on residential properties in Vancouver, it looks as though a Canadian “Wall” is being built against free trade and immigration, as even the Ontario Finance Minister is suggesting that he is looking very closely at what his British Columbia counterpart has done. This is in addition to the additional taxes of current land transfer tax of 1% to 3% of the purchase price and the yet-to-be-disclosed new tax that will be applied to owners of properties that are left vacant. What about our Canadian snowbirds who go south for 182 days per year? Should they now pay a vacancy tax on their homes?